Honors Seminars Fall 2023

open to upper-level students

HON 383: Inside the Marble Palace
Jilda Aliotta  |  Wednesday 5–7:20 P.M. CRN 42331

Capital punishment, coerced confessions, internet pornography, limits of public protest. These are only some of the many issues that the U.S. Supreme Court considers in a typical term. The U.S. Constitution establishes the rules of the game for American political life. By tradition the Supreme Court has become the primary arbiter of the Constitution’s present-day meanings. This seminar will explore the constitutional and the political roles of the U.S. Supreme Court using materials from the Court’s current term. Prerequisite: POL 110 and junior/senior standing or permission of instructor. Also, an overall GPA of 3.00 or higher is required. For A&S general education, this seminar can be counted as a POL social science course, or for POL majors, it can be taken for elective credit. This course counts as an HON 300 seminar for A&S students; Honors students in other colleges should consult with their Honors Coordinator before enrollment. For Criminal Justice majors, this course counts as a Group B: Law and Response to Social Conflict course. This course meets the Citizenship requirement for A&S students. The course counts as a UISS course. (If students use the course as a UISS, it may not count as fulfilling a general education or major requirement.)

HON 384: Social Media and Society
Adam Chiara  |  Thursday 9:55–11:10 A.M. CRN 44066

This course will explore how technology has altered the world and what may still come from it. We will cover how it affects areas like business, government and politics, news, culture, and intrapersonal and interpersonal communication. By the end of the course, you will have a greater appreciation of how powerful and dangerous social media can be and learn the ways you are a part of its evolution. This course counts as an HON 300 seminar for A&S students. Honors students in other Colleges should check with their Honors Coordinator before enrollment. For the Communication major, this course can serve as a substitute for CMM 215P - Making Sense of Social Media or one of the out of emphasis courses (but not both).  For the Digital Media and Journalism major, it could count as a “Media Studies” course. Ths course meets the Citizenship requirement for A&S. This can count as a UISS course for students in any College.

HON 389: Fiction, Fabulation, and Futurity
Rashmi Viswanathan  |  Monday 5–7:20 P.M. CRN 41449

This class will examine how artists and writers have used fictional stories to reimagine the future of human existence in ways that involve new concepts of race, ethnicity, class, sex and gender. Along the way, you will explore how these “reimagined futures” raise questions regarding how we think about these concepts in our contemporary “real world.” To help with this, you will study artists and writers who have recreated ideas of place (such as Sun Ra and Gloria Anzaldúa), you will read novels like Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Octavia Butler’s Kindred, you will watch films and television episodes (such as Whale Rider and the Watchmen), examine concepts like future urban design, the human body as a cosmos, and much more. For the final project, you will curate an imagined exhibition – where you envision a future world of your own – based on a topic of your choice. This is open to students in all majors who have a 3.0 or above. HON 389 will count as an art general education requirement in A&S. For Art History Majors, HON 389 will count as a modern art course (ART 3XX) and HON 390 will count as a General Education humanities course. For Art History Minors, HON 389 will count as a modern art course (ART 3XX). For Studio Art Majors HON 389 will count as an art history course (ART 3XX) and HON 390 will count as an academic elective. Additionally, HON 389 will count as the equivalent of ENG 3XX for English Majors. For Digital Media and Journalism majors, the courses can count for up to 6 credits of “Media Studies” coursework, For Communications majors, HON 389-390 can count for up to 6 credits of an “out of emphasis course.” Applications are due April 3.